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YAY
Congrats GGail. Thank you Chips.
Thanks J4O :-)
I am enjoying this video of the Queen of Soul, so, so, much!
Winner winner winner. Congrats on first GGail!
Thank You Chips!!!!
You are HIGHly welcome, GGaaaaaaaaaail!!
<3
Everytime I watch this i am in tears. It’s so emotional and so our time.
Good morning Chips and GGail!!!
Good morning dear Marilyn. <3
I was just saying how much I'm enjoying this video. It does strike an emotional chord - doesn't it?
It is the end of the year when we reminisce about everything and all those from the KC Honors struck so many cords. Hope you have a wonderful day and New Year holiday. Are you at work?
Yes, I’m at work - well, I’m at my desk and the clock is moving oh so slowly :-)
I was planning to see the Rose Parade in person, but our weather is too darn cold, so I’ll watch it on the telly. The fighter jets fly right over my apartment complex, so, I’ll be on my porch for the fly-over, then back inside where it will be much warmer. Hope you & Don have a wonderful New Year holiday too.
Ha ha, GGail, I’m with you on this. I remember one year my ex and I had great seats at the end of the parade route but, unfortunately, it was one of those rare years that rained on the parade - I mean torrential rains! We were so miserable out there, we decided to go home and watch it on TV instead! Our clothes were drying on the porch and we comfortably and warmly watched Leann Rimes dancing in the pouring rain wearing Daisy Dukes (that was hilarious).
Yes, common sense must prevail so we can live another day.
I would be with you at not being there in person if I was in So Cal, although I remember many Rose Parades sleeping in the gutter to get a great place. Spent many a New Years Eve there. Awe the memories of youth. Wave to the pilots for me.
Wish all of you could come up on January 2, we are having our annual Oliver Holiday Open House. It’s our time to celebrate the ending of an old and the beginning of a new year with all our friends and family. As Sue will tell you there is lots of food, drink and conversation. So blessed with such wonderful friends.
Can’t wait till we all meet in DC for a TOD party. I am so ready to set DC on fire with all of us. I wonder if DC will survive.
Good Day to you MadameSoph and Dakota. We are truly blessed.
Thank you MtMarilyn, for the lovely thoughts! My day is officially blessed! Happy 6th day of Christmas/two days before New Years :-)
Awwww, the wonders of youth :-)
Marilyn, I love you like I love VC and you both live where there’s snow during this time of the year. As the song goes, “I’ll be seeing you…in springtime or summertime, but not in the wintertime” :-)
Hi Marilyn and Gail,
I agree, this program touches us on so many levels. We so need the arts in our lives.
It certainly does Dakota and I’m so happy to hear that your tests results are bearing good news. You take care :-)
California & Canada earthquakes on the same day…
A 4.8-magnitude earthquake struck near Victoria, British Columbia in Canada at about 11:39 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The quake occurred about 11 miles northeast of Victoria, near North Saanich, and was about 31 miles deep, according to the USGS.
Randy Baldwin, a USGS geophysicist, said the quake was felt for a radius of 150 miles, but he hadn’t heard of any major damage or recorded aftershocks.
It’s not unusual for an earthquake of this size to hit along the West Coast and Vancouver Island because there’s a large subduction zone in the area that produces lots of seismic activity, Baldwin said.
4.8? Please. My cats don’t even wake up for that.
Hahahahaha, I know!
Last night I was texting with my sister who lives in Georgia when the news blasted the announcement and I guess it was on her news too because she typed in all caps EARTHQUAKE. I said don’t worry, nothing doing and went back to the topic we were discussing.
>^..^< Inorite? Didn't feel anything from the 4.4 yesterday.
GA GGail.
Always late, but check out Oklahoma over the past two days…
I just saw the clip, I didn’t know Aretha stood up on it like that.
Don, translate please…”I didn’t know Aretha stood up on it like that”
Don, after pondering your statement for a minute, I think I know what you’re saying :-)
Arrghh!!
Wacky things going on in computerland today…brought over from previous thread. Sorry.
Good Southwest Morning Everyone!
Ok, how the heck are we supposed to choose one of these wonderful photos to vote for? Sigh…
I’m feeling better today. Thanks again for all the healing thoughts and prayers. Did testing yesterday and everything came out well…doesn’t appear to be heart related. More tests to come this week.
What an uplifting Kennedy Center Honors! Seeing Rita Moreno in West Side Story was the catalyst for me taking up dance and then years later I heard her yelling “Hey You Guys!!!” at least 3 times a day as my daughter was an Electric Company fanatic. Hubby says that after he saw West Side Story, he wanted a purple shirt like “Bernardo.”
I remember Seiji Ozawa’s wonderful tenure with the San Francisco Symphony, always so dynamic. (Did you see his wife wiping away tears during Blessed Assurance?)
Question: Was it for the Kennedy Center Honors that Queen Aretha stepped in for Pavarotti and his signature song “Dorma?” (And she killed it!)
I remember when she did that but I couldn’t tell you which program it was. Just Googled it and it was the Grammy’s with only a 20 minute notice. What a women!!!!!
GOOD!
I got it. There’s also one for FACEBOOK which I got as well. Thank you!
Good news. Always happy when PA does something sensible and progressive. Makes me proud to live here.
Amen
Some say that Aretha stole the show from the Honorees last night. I believe that the Queen of Soul righteously “closed” the show for the Honorees last night.
THIS! ^^^^^
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/dec/30/president-barack-obama-cries-aretha-franklin-kennedy-center
This article just cracks me up
You want to know why Aretha is the indisputable Queen of Soul? Watch this. You want to know why hacks like me send her fan mail by the week pleading for an interview, knowing there is sod-all hope, but not resenting her one smidge? Watch this. Aretha is performing at the 38th Annual Kennedy Center Honors, held on 6 December in Washington and broadcast on CBS on Tuesday night. It wasn’t even Aretha’s night. Oh no. This ceremony was to award, among others, Rita Moreno, George Lucas and Carole King. Then up steps Aretha to sing the King/Goffin/Wexler 1967 classic (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.
Look at King, open-mouthed in shock and awe (the right kind of shock and awe) – and this is before Aretha’s even opened hers. Everything about Aretha is astonishing – the range, depth, control in her voice, the phrasing, the passion, the playing, the floor-length fur, the sparkling clutch purse. The more Aretha sings, the harder it is to believe that King is not going to die and go to heaven. President Obama is wiping away tears before Aretha’s even done with the first verse. Aretha is 73, looks wonderful, and might just be singing better than ever.
To top everything, she throws the mink to the ground with supreme elan. Nobody chucks a fur like Aretha. This is not the performance of the year, it’s the performance of the millennium. Long live the Queen.
Amen, amen!!!!!
“To top everything, she throws the mink to the ground with supreme elan. Nobody chucks a fur like Aretha. This is not the performance of the year, it’s the performance of the millennium. Long live the Queen.”
Totally co-signing. The Queen of Soul was in better voice than she has been in a while. Added to that, it has been awhile since she played piano in public and this was a true gift (one of the reasons Carol King was so gobsmacked). Of course, most everyone knows that PBO and MO LOVE Ms. Aretha and have rocked out to her performances many times. I got a chuckle out of the fact that Ms. Aretha came on stage with her bejeweled clutch purse and her awesome fur. Divas do it like they want and others just need to get out of the way . She is a true Diva in the best sense of the word. It was right and proper that the audience gave her due homage (Viola Davis was also over the moon). Aretha Franklin is still firmly on her throne as the Queen of Soul and no one has even come close to supplanting her.
She came out in the fur AND clutching her purse. Then, she played. Then, she just sang. Then, she chucked the fur.
There will never be another.
Gosh, I seemed to be crying all the time now. That was beautiful Mr. President
FLOTUS IS BLESSED TO HAVE PBO AS A PARTNER…SOME OF US JUST DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT EXPERIENCE IS LIKE NOR WILL WE EVER…………..
They are both good for each other and we are blessed that they joined forces.
I hope you’re feeling better Sue :-)
GGAIL I agree. They are BLESSED to have each other.
Right On GGail.
THANKS FOR THE HOPES GGAIL…IT’S PART OF MY DISEASE AND NOT CURABLE…SENDING HUGS TO YOU!
Amen to that, Sue.
I’ve become hooked on reading all things about Aretha :-)
Carole King on Twitter:
“If anyone wants to know what I said when I turned away & said something to Sherry, it was, “OMG, she’s playing the piano!!” -Xo.C
LOVE THAT!!!!!!
:-)
I know, it was so funny; Carol King was so excited/elated, she couldn’t stop talking to everyone around her. :-) George Lucas looked briefly annoyed and FLOTUS was nodding and smiling like we do when a relative is talking during a movie or a show and we are torn between our love for them and our empathy with those sitting around us who want to hear the performance, not the commentary. It was such a joy seeing Carol King’s joy at the Queen’s tribute to her, that I just got a kick out of it.
I was already emotional listening to Aretha sing and play and then, when PBO teared up, I just lost it.
I’m so glad I stayed awake last night and now I’m searching the interwebs and especially Aretha’s twitter site to soak up everything I can :-)
http://crooksandliars.com/2015/12/responsible-state-troopers-4-year-old
Investigators with the Alaska Bureau of Investigation from Anchorage arrived in Bethel Tuesday.
“Investigation revealed that William Anderson, age 4, was playing by himself in the family living room when he obtained a privately owned firearm and subsequently suffered a fatal gunshot wound,” troopers wrote.
Trooper spokesman Tim Despain told Channel 2 News that the boy’s father is an Alaska State Trooper who was not at home at the time of the shooting. The handgun was owned by the Anderson family.
At the time of the child’s shooting death two adults and two children were present in the home.
Obviously, someone allowed a child to have access to a loaded handgun but the comments under the article at KTUU highlight part of the problem America faces with so many child shootings.
Heavy sigh.
Oh Lord, this is so tragic.
The guilt that the adults who were in the home will carry forever - is huge
For those who will be in SoCal for New Year’s Eve, or who might want a culinary adventure in the future, here is the info about the Kurdish restaurant, Niroj and their New Year’s dinner and Show. As I said on the previous thread, the owner has family fighting in the resistance and lost a family member to it. The food is delicious and everyone there is super nice and friendly (it’s a family run place). The owner used to be a scientist, but always dreamed of sharing his culinary heritage here in his new US home. If you’ve never had Kurdish food, it’s similar to Greek, Turkish, Lebanese style (same dishes with different names).
Here is an article about the New Year’s Party and some info about the performers:
http://www.kurdslist.org/events/400-celebrate-a-spectacular-new-year-s-eve-at-niroj-kurdish-cuisine
MSoph, the SoCal TOD Peeps will have to plan on meeting at Niroj’s and having you join us!
I’ll email Chips & ask her to give you my email address so you can email me and we stay in touch. I think it would be great for us to dine there together in 2016 :-)
How kind of you, GGail! And thank you for being the first to comment on Niroj here at TOD. My friend and I discovered it thanks to you!
My pleasure MSoph. :-)
I like what Senator Boxer is saying, but, I’m still cautious about giving my money…
Zero.
That is how many Republican senators said they wouldn’t support a Trump nominee after his disgusting and degrading tirade against Hillary Clinton.
Zero.
That is the number of Republican senators who thought Trump had disqualified himself by calling for a ban on all Muslims entering America.
Zero. These are the leaders of the Republican Party — the leaders of the Senate! — and not a single one has truly stood up to Trump’s demagoguery and division.
Well, I’m standing up. And you can, too, by making sure Democrats take back the Senate and keep the White House in 2016 — because the alternative is just too frightening.
Almost every day, I get calls from amazing progressive candidates who are already battling against super PACs spending millions to defeat them. So, I’ve set a goal to raise $25,000 by December 31st so that we can help them fight back right now and win in November.
Contribute $10 or more right now, before our midnight FEC filing deadline on the 31st, to help our PAC for a Change community elect a Democratic Senate.
Just look at what the Republican leadership in the Senate has prioritized since retaking their majority:
Time after time, they’ve tried to defund Planned Parenthood.
They’ve tried to deny health care access for millions.
They’ve tried to repeal lifesaving environmental protections.
And what have they ignored? They’ve ignored an epidemic of gun violence in this country, and they’ve continued to ignore the catastrophic threat of climate change.
Those are Republican priorities. I shudder to imagine what their priorities would be if Republicans keep their majority or — even worse — take the White House.
That’s why meeting our $25,000 goal before the end-of-the-year deadline is so important. We’re going to rush this money to the campaigns right now.
Will you contribute $10 or more before tomorrow to help our PAC for a Change community tip the scales in 2016?
I am determined to leave the Senate and White House in Democratic hands, and I’m grateful that, once again, you are by my side in this fight.
In Friendship,
Barbara Boxer
U.S. Senator
Hello TOD on a Wednesday Afternoon from MN. Partly cloudy. Crisp and Dry. Winter, continues in MN ;)
My heart goes out to all those having Weather related problems.
Congrats to all the Gold :star: recipients since last Evening, starting with this Fine Post.
This will now dethrone Trumpism, at least for the next 24 hours. A delight for Cablers? Or is it an indictment? Honestly, In 2015, it’s harder to tell with the Lazy, Lame and Corrupt US News Media.
Ok, off to run errands. Sooooo excited to see Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee with PBO! When I first moved I let go of both my old Sony Trinitron and cable TV service and didn’t get my new TV and Tivo Roamio Over the Air DVR for a few months. During that time, all of my entertainment was online and CICGC was one of my faves. Binge watched them all at least twice each :-)
Illustration of what Racism is and how the US News Media continues to Gin and Promote Bigotry.
Note:
The Killer is the Policeman. Yet his photo used is a portrait of him in his professional Uniform taken by the State.
The Victim is now, Dead. However, his photo is that of a mugshot. Note, when he was killed, he was unarmed and was Not in custody.
The Lady Justice in the Public arena, continues to be Blinded with Loads of Racism.
Excellent point, Nena.
The corporate media is so corrupt. Chances are this was an all white grand jury. Another DA appeasing the police union.
The newspaper sully’s the character of the victim while giving
high praise to the officer who killed him
I can’t get enough :-)
Ian Mariani @marianincheese 9m9 minutes ago
Look up “still got it” in the dictionary and you’ll find this clip of #Aretha, mink trench and all. Incredible.
I’m not sure, but I think this is a link to a recent, brief interview with Ms. Franklin.
http://ti.me/1PxoREl
Thanks maryl1. Not sure what year this interview was taken, but it was still enjoyable.
Too Lovely!
Priceless!
What a Great Picture!
Awwwww <3
I WOULD LOVE TO PUT PBO AT A TABLE WITH A BUNCH OF 3 YEAR OLDS AND FINGERPAINTS!…WHAT FUN THAT WOULD BE!
I bet he would ADORE that Sue!!!! :-)
Hmm, Jebra?
You’ve Got the Money…….so what is the problem? Hmm?
IT HAS NEVER BEEN A DEMOCRACY BECAUSE HISTORICAL TRUTH WAS NEVER TOLD UNTIL PBO JUMPED IN THE CHAIR. THE SCALES OF JUSTICE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN OUT OF BALANCE DUE TO CLASS CHERRY PICKING….IT MAY BE FUN FOR AWHILE FOR THE TOP DOGS…BUT SOONER OR LATER ALL THE BRICKS FALL!
New post
http://theobamadiary.com/2015/12/30/pete-souzas-photos-of-the-year/
Aretha!